


The Blue Dragon

by blackknight4449



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Genocide (mention), Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:28:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25195429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackknight4449/pseuds/blackknight4449
Summary: At all of 10 Azula knew one thing for certain, she hated her brother. Watching him speak with her mother built a rage within her that demanded retribution.At all of 11 Azula knew one thing certain, he deserved everything he got in the Agni Kai. Watching Zuko scream as he was burned raised a joy in her chest.At all of 12 Azula knew one thing for certain, He had to die.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 85





	1. The Blue Dragon Stirs.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, this is my first work please be kind, at least to start with. I will update as often as I can but I am rather limited in how much I write in a single set. This first chapter is two days work. I do not have a beta reader so If you'd like you are welcome to ask. Welcome to whatever this is. I will try to not abandon this.

The month after Zuko was banished Azula was sneaking through the Royal Palace. Overhearing servants was always a favored pastime, especially as it often netted a great deal of blackmail against the residents of the palace. 

“He burned his own son, what kind of man does that?”

“If he wasn’t the Firelord he would be decried…”

“Why would he do that?”

“Because Zuko was kind.”

“...”

“You’ve always said that the war was always questionable after Iroh lost Ba Sing Se…” 

“Silence, someone is coming.”

Azula glanced around her corner and saw a third servant approaching. She moved into the room, leaned against the entrance frame. Watching as the servants were conferring, she gently cleared her throat. 

“Princess Azula” the three servants exclaimed as they dropped to their knees. 

“So… Do any of you want to explain to me what is going on in here? It sounds to me like sedition…” Azula smiled. 

“No Princess, never, we support the Firelord and the Royal Family!” they all said, nearly in unison. 

“Hmm… perhaps you should explain what you have been talking about to the Princess,” Azula said as her smile widened. The servants looked at the floor, eyes wide, sweat forming on their brow. Azula looked at them and her smile dropped. She thought of the times when Zuko and she would perform the ending to Love Amongst Dragons on ember island. Zuko laughing as she screams the lines, her mother’s laugh like a song. Her fathers eyes watching her, disapprovingly. 

“... Do any of you know how to get a message out of the Palace?”

“Princess?”

As a single tear rolls down her face, “I want to send a message to my uncle, and if any of you say anything, I will tell my father what you said.”

“As you wish princess.”

  
  
  
  


— 

Azula wandered back through the halls, thinking of her time at the Royal Academy for girls. Mai, Ty Lee, Azula. In all her time there she suspected that the only reason she succeeded to begin with was because of who she was, until she began to so totally destroy her classmates. She remembered her classmates Lee, Chan, and Shoji who, before she arrived, were topping out classes. How her arrival brought harsh looks, being shoved in the halls by unseen faces, and having her books vandalised after school was released. But then, class after class she began to truly excel. Her logic and rhetoric class was a cinch, she won game after game in Pai Sho, the firebender training and private tutor were below her. The professors admired her mind, and feared her father. The children hated her mind, and feared her. In all that Mai and Ty Lee were there. Her only real friends. She missed them. Ty Lee off in the earth kingdom with that Circus, and Mai’s family off being Governor of Omashu she fought back a tear. 

When She returned to her room Azula sat at her vanity and pulled out her brush and ink well, and began composing a letter. 

‘Dear Uncle, 

At our parting we exchanged ill words. I would like to offer an apology. I was wrong to feel so superior. Zuko can never complete his task. The Avatar has not been seen in a hundred years. Let alone by a Fire Nation warship. I implore you uncle, as the greatest military mind of my father’s generation to work with me. As much as competition for affection was fermented between my brother and I, I cannot help but feel the emptiness of the palace. My friends have been forced away from me. My father has only made the palace more empty, An attempt to make me more desperate for his affection and attention no doubt. Yet I do not crave affection. I yearn for company more than anything. Father is rarely here, always claiming to be off touring some new ship or a new governor's posting. 

I am not looking for forgiveness. I am not looking for your pity. I was still pleased when Zuko was burned. I am still my father’s heir. But It is not my place. Zuko is owed this station, I may be better than him, but his naivete and kindness while a weakness politically will give him the power to unite my people. Our People. 

My Father needs to die. 

Your Blue Dragon, 

Azula.’


	2. Two Masters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azula receives a response. Iroh enjoys a game. A conspiracy's afoot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks, everyone for the great response to the first chapter. I am still just doing my best here. I hope you all like this "chapter". I have an idea as to where this will grow but I am not used to mapping out such a long-form story so my writing style will probably change as we go on. Hopefully, this whole thing can become a series, because I have a lot that I want to do but I don't want to make promises that I can't keep. But for now, enjoy.

Iroh unrolled the scroll, he had to do a double take as he read the by-line. Azula. She had reached out to him. The message burned in his fingers. The Hawk was returned with a scrap of paper that only notes one thing “Jasmine fire”.

—

Azula sat in the Pai Sho garden and moved a Jasmine tile to the fire gate, noting her Uncle utilizing the dragon opening in the west. She examined the board briefly and played a rose in the Heaven Gate. Committing to the Avatar’s gambit. She sent Iroh her next three moves. 

—

Her opening was fast, Iroh noted, but entirely hers. The Avatar’s Gambit was not one that is encountered often. But the Dragon opening can easily be changed to meet it. Iroh planned out his next four moves, and sent them. He looked up as Zuko began the basic firebending set again. 

“No Prince Zuko, Your energy comes from the breath. Breath and then,” fire erupts from Iroh’s closed fist and shoots across the deck of the ship, “the fire will come, no matter how hard you swing, you must breathe.”

—

Azula noted that both of the final moves that She and Iroh had made were in conflict with each other. But, blocking her he forces her to slow. She sighs. Her whole gamble was on overwhelming force. Without the fast opening of the Avatar she had to rethink her entire strategy. The two months to get just these three moves have been forcing her to analyze and examine every move, every placement, and she hated the waiting. But to get her uncle to fully prepare Zuko to take the throne when she is done she needed him on board before she could put any of her other plans in motion. She can not even contact any of the necessary commanders to begin her subtle manipulations of the Navy and Army that will be needed. She did force her attendants to take her on a tour of a barracks closer to the waterfront. 

Upon arrival a dozen men in Fire Nation uniform stool tall and stock still. She slowly paced through the room with the sergeant explaining the different things to her. 

“... And this princess is a foot locker, this is where the men store their private belongings…” Azula noticed a Pai Sho tile on the ground. She looked up at the man and made eye contact, he did not flinch, merely he ever so slowly lowered one eyelid and winked at her. Azula was unsure what to think and blushed slightly in both anger and embarassment, looking down again to hide this she focused on the white lotus tile on the floor. 

— 

Iroh read over a report from the White Lotus, the Avatar continues to be beyond the reach of everyone. Looking over the page he notes that Zuko has his feet out of place. He noted that Azula’s next moves would back them both into a corner. Subtle changes to his posture put him into a much better position, while still seemingly weak. His shift from his Dragon attack to the Turtle Duck defense with an easy change into the Platypus Bear. 

“Zuko, keep your balance, spread out your feet.”

“Uncle, any further and I am out of the stance”

“Zuko, listen to me. Trust. Breathe in, spread out your feet for that block. You will have more strength for it.” 

“Okay Uncle,” Zuko smiled.

—

Azula is again staring at the Pai Sho garden. Iroh’s moves had her pinned into the neutral gardens. But she had his potential victories locked down with her Accent tiles. Then she saw it. Four moves and she had him. She smiled and stood up and began walking away. 

“Azula, What are you doing?”

Azula turned and dropped to her knees, “Father, I’m simply playing Pai Sho.”

“Against whom?” Ozai growled.

“... myself, father,” Azula said. 

“I see, hmm…” Ozai moved one of Iroh’s flowers, checking the piece that Azula was going to block anyway. A small grin crept across Azula’s face before she checked it. 

“Azula, come with me. We have a trip.”

“Yes Father,” Azula rushed to follow. 

—

It was a long tour from the Capital around the nation, from city to city, though they did avoid Ursa’s home town Azula noticed. While they traveled Azula performed her advanced forms for Ozai. Visiting the various governors around the nation gave Azula some perspective. As she met with the Governors and generals she noticed that several of the younger officers waited for hours to meet her and leave their offerings as their superiors bent the knee to her father. 

“Hello Princess… Thank you princess”

“Hello Princess… Thank you your majesty” 

So it went, on and on, until a young man with bright eyes approached and bent down, leaving a gift on the pile at her feet.

“Hello Princess… Jade to heaven water white 4...” he said under his breath.

Azula stuttered out her basic response and looked to the offering that he had added to the pile at her feet. A single white lotus flower resting on a rolled parchment. Azula was lost in thought such that she did not even notice when the event ended. Her mind was reeling, she had just lost. Iroh’s final move had placed her in a bind, but she knew, she knew that there had to be a way out. The whole game had felt like a test, every time Iroh advanced he left himself open to an attack from a direction that would never be open in a normal game. But when she attacked from a different direction sensing a trap he would bend around her, as though anticipating her every move. But now, she was in a bind. His harmony was converging around her and she could not find her way out. 

—

Watching his Daughter Ozai’s lips pulled into a tight line. He could sense something was wrong and did not yet know what he could do. There was only a slight distance he was beginning to feel between them. But he knew he needed to do something to bridge it. 

“Azula, dear girl, would you like to learn the most advanced fire bending technique?” he asked. 

Azula looked far away, he could almost see the cogs turning in her head. Mulling a problem over and working it over and over. Seeing all the angles, looking five moves ahead, it was the same look that Iroh would have when they were children in the War meetings under Azulon. Ozai frowned, coughed, and looked intently at her. 

“Azula! GIRL LISTEN TO ME,” Ozai yelled.

Azula startled, “Yes father!”

“You will learn lightning generation when we return,” Ozai said, with the corners of his lips turning up into a smile. 

“Yes father,” Azula said in a low voice with her vicious smile. As she settled back in her seat Ozai noticed that her vision went out of focus again.  _ What was she thinking about? _ Ozai’s thoughts drifted away from his daughter back to the woman he had been seeing. From her to the possible menu options for the evening. Only momentarily focusing again on his daughter.  _ I will need to enforce a stricter schedule on her, more lessons, less time alone.  _

—

Azula felt the sweat drip down her brow. Her arms were shaking, her breath coming in heavy rasps. 

“Hold yourself still…” Li said

“...steady your arms.” Lo finishes

Azula drops her arms and squats as she starts breathing more heavily. She waves her hand in the air and a cup of water with rose petals and cucumber is presented by a member of her staff. 

“Azula…”

“... Again,” Li and Lo said. Azula steps into the circle again, and begins the sequence again. Step, spin, fire, block, turn, duck, turn, under, fire, block, fire block, Azula sees the target beyond the fray. She reaches two fingers into the air, pulls at the energy that she feels there, and charges the lighting. A feeling at the edge of her senses, the air smells like storm, her heart pounds in her ears as the silver blue lighting is plucked from the aether. Her eyes focus on the wooden bust of some vague avatar and the electricity coursing through her finds release through her chakra paths. The lightning courses across the garden and destroys the wooden bust. Azula breaths out a sigh, stands, and centers herself. When she opens her eyes she sees her father staring down from a balcony above. 

—

Iroh receives Azula’s final move. He smiles. Patience is required when playing Pai Sho from such a distance. But her strategy is capable, and she took no unnecessary risks. So perhaps he can work with her. 

“Prince Zuko, We have searched all three air temples, the avatar is not there. Slow down, and focus on the improvement of yourself.”

Iroh sat and gestured to the other side of the Pai Sho table. 

“Zuko, you need to examine the world around you and begin to focus on what you can do to improve it,” Iroh said. 

“Uncle, I can help the world later, right now I need to regain my honor. That is what will allow me to make changes, that is what will take me back home,” Zuko responds. 

“Prince Zuko, please, your honor is not in question. Your father--”

“My father will return my station to me when I capture the Avatar!” Zuko shouted.

“Prince Zuko--”

“Enough Uncle!” Zuko said as he stood up and stormed off the deck towards his quarters. 

“Oh Zuko, We will give your back what you deserve. Your sister and I. oh.. Lu Ten, if only you were here to help show him the way…” Iroh said under his breath. He sat back down and brought out a brush and inkwell and parchment and began to write. 

‘ Dear my Blue Dragon, 

I have examined your strategy in our game, I have found you to be capable. I will help you. But to create the circumstances to bring down your Father we will need help. I have old friends who will assist us. But you must develop your contacts within both high society and the military. I can give you access to a network to move your messages through but you will need to be the one who is the center of this web. I am too far away and too occupied making sure that your brother continues to be the boy we both know. You can be the mastermind behind this, but if you are, you must live with it and the consequences. 

As for how we can communicate, you must never leave your name. You are now the Blue Dragon. You must only pass sensitive information through the people I send to you, as they serve a higher calling than their nation, you must be sensible and make only the moves that will allow you to stay a secret. Do not underestimate your father. 

Dragon of the West.’


	3. Education

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ozai spends time reminiscing, Azula spends time thinking.

Azula looked at the note in her hand.  
She grinned.  
Slowly and deliberately Azula ripped the piece of parchment several times, and then burned it to ash. Then stuffed the ash in a loaf of bread and fed it to the turtleducks. She walked out of the garden. Walked through the palace and sat around the Pai Sho board that her servants moved to her room.  
Azula spent hours working through the message in her head. How had her Uncle intended to reach out to her. She thought back to their game of Pai Sho, to the cryptic messages from random members of the Navy and Army that gave her Iroh’s moves, commonalities between everything that was said and done. Thinking over this all Azula couldn’t help but think that she was missing something. She went about her day thinking of every event that had led up to that letter from Iroh. She thought of the soldier who brought her the first move from Iroh that did not come as a slip of paper. 

She pulled the lotus tile out from the set and placed it in the middle of the board.  
—  
Ozai sat on the throne staring down at the map of the earth kingdom. Skirmishes fought along every border and around all of the colonies. Ozai’s thoughts drifted to his son. His brother. His eyes drifted to the eastern air temple. Ozai knew that eventually Zuko would go there as Ozai himself, and Azulon had, desperate in search of the Avatar. Ozai scoffed under his breath, Zuko was weak. That woman was too soft on him. Ozai had only made a play for the throne. Zuko would have been worth all of this. But she had to change it, and play the game. It's no game for a woman. Let alone one born among peasants and raised up to the highest ranks of aristocracy by himself. She should have been grateful to him. Ozai scoffed a final time and dismissed his advisors with naught but an indication that they should do as they wish and they would be damned if the consequences were poor. As the last of the group left the war room Ozai walked through his entrance behind the throne. Normally covered in fire the entrance Ozai takes leads down through darkness. The few spiderfly webs are turned to smoke as he passes and clears the passage. He continues down, into the hollow core of the ancient volcanic rock.  
The stairway widens into a dark room that is lit with a simple snap of Ozai’s fingers. Honeycomb fractals cover the walls of this ancient library. The room smells like old paper and lamp oil. Ozai walked carefully around the room. The private notes of a hundred Firelords live down in this room, hidden from the prying eyes of the Fire sages. Sozin’s private account of the obliteration of the Air nomads, Azulon’s writings on the gradual destruction of the southern Water tribe, and Iroh’s letters and battle plans from the occupation of Ba Sing Se. Ozai opened a scroll from his great grandfather. The aging ink cracked, and Ozai brought it to the table in the center of the room. He retraced the characters as he read.  
_The day I usurped the throne by making the deal for my eldests life. Knowing that I would have to destroy my only heir to gain my proper standing. My elder brother is weak and his rule will be ineffectual and ruinous to the Firenation as a whole._  
Ozai smiled.  
_The weakness inherent in our line will be purged. I will take what wives I need to create a strong Heir. When Kyoshi finally dies we shall be blessed by the Avatar being birthed in our nation. I will build us to our full strength before we host the Avatar and he will be the strongest avatar in the cycle._  
Ozai Grimaced at the mention of Avatar Roku and put away the scroll. He reached for another, a note from Sozin on his assault of the Southern Air Temple.  
_Their culture had no need for a military force, each member of the temple was capable of bending to some degree or other. Their Elders were each the most powerful benders in the world. Each required many battalions of our soldiers to fully defeat. Together they pushed each one of us off their mountains, as individuals the less spiritual of them were capable of taking the breath away from dozens or hundreds of my men. We marched for days against them. The Air Nomads were capable of defeating us. If they had held the same ideology we did. Should they have felt that violence against us was allowable they would have soundly destroyed us. As it was, when we destroyed them, it was less that equals fought and lost, and more that a Saber-tooth Mooselion allowed a seal turtle to slap it to death. It did not feel like the victory that we presented it as, even before we were able to recognize that we did not end the avatar._  
Ozai stood, and retrieved a blank scroll and began his notes on how the war was preceding. Once he finished updating his notes he recalled the torch flames and the room dimmed yet again. He walked back up towards the palace. A second staircase off of the primary led Ozai up to the royal bedchamber. When he opened the hidden door into his bedchamber he sighed. The termination of his day looming he pulled off the heavy robes and walked into an adjoining room that was dominated by a large basin of water. Ozai heated the water and slipped into it. His scarred body feeling tense and loosening in the hot water.  
“Ozai! Your foot is in the wrong place, watch Iroh and LEARN FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE!”  
Ozai started and jerked as he woke up. Darkness permeated the space, and Ozai could feel the skin on his fingers being pruned. He stood, dried himself, and walked back into the royal chambers. Called for a servant and sent the man away for a tray of sliced meat and fruit. He sat in a large chair and waited. His head aching.  
—  
A figure stood in the corner of Azula’s room. They shuffled forward and brushed a lock of her hair back. The figure stands and walks out of the door.  
—  
The next morning Azula sat in her room and read over reports from the edges of the Fire nation empire. Squabbles and skirmishes with the Earth kingdom. Azula smiled when she found a report of an attack on an encampment of Fire navy sailors, as the only thing spared from flame was a Pai Sho board and the White Lotus tile. She activated a lever under her Pai Sho table. The revealed lid was pushed aside and Azula placed the report into the compartment under the board on top of a pile of similar reports. Each bearing the official seal of the Earth kingdom.  
Azula’s mind races through the day. Strategy and tactics fill her head, and her time training her bending is spent with her recounting a book by an old Fire nation Avatar from memory. Sun Tzu’s strategy was burned into her memory. As she moved through the various forms of Firebending Azula stated every rule. Over the course of her hour under the watchful eyes of her father, instructors, along with Li and Lo. Her skill is apparent, each flaming strike can be felt from several meters further than her sparring partners, and the blue heart of her fire marking her out as poignantly different than any peer her teachers had seen.  
Azula left training breathing heavily. Her arms ached and her legs wobbled. Tired and weak after so long at the whims of her teachers she was bathed and changed clothes. She ate and rested. While reading on her chaise lounge Azula nodded off.


End file.
